Grow Garlic In Small Area

In less than an hour last fall, I tilled up a 4x8 foot garden bed and planted 250 seed cloves of Chesnok and Russian Red garlic. I've been doing it this way for several years, and am very satisfied with the yield, which gives us plenty of garlic for the table, as well as seed for the next year.

A few years ago I found a 4x8 foot piece of treated wood lattice. The holes are approximately four inches on center, which is excellent spacing for planting garlic and other crops, too. I till up a different spot in the garden each year, smooth it off, and lay the lattice flat.

I put one garlic clove in each hole and poke it into the ground (the pointy end goes up). Just poke them all in — don't spend a lot of time trying to cover them. After all the holes are filled, remove the lattice and put it away for next time. I keep it hanging on a couple of screws on the side of the garden shed.

Now cover the bed with about an inch or so of good compost and tamp it down, then mulch the whole bed with two or three inches of pine needles. The needles will settle over the winter, and the garlic comes up right through them in the spring. Pine needles will keep the weeds at bay for most of the summer. The only other maintenance comes during the summer, when I cut the scapes to ensure larger bulbs. (Scapes are the flower stalks that grow on hardneck garlic varieties.) Those scapes are good in stir fry, so don't toss them.

NOTE: Some type of garlic will be easy to grow in almost any area. In my area, the hardier ones that can withstand below zero temps do the best. Nothing could be easier. I get them in the ground at least a couple of weeks before major snow. Do nothing to them all winter or early spring.

After that they need to be keep damp, not wet.

If you're a garlic lover, this is a wonderful activity. Easy to grow, delicious. Not like the irradiated junk in super markets. There are some excellent garlic articles online.